Educators focus on transition from preschool to kindergarten

Research also shows that a 4-year-old's style of learning
differs greatly from that of a 14-year-old and very young students
shouldn't be pushed too hard, Simpson and others said.

"We don't want early childhood programs to become too academic
too early, but there are lots of innovative ways to support young
children's learning in a way that's still appropriate to their age
and developmental level," he said.

Collaboration meetings between preschool and kindergarten
teachers are a good way to ensure children are prepared for school,
he said. Preschool teachers can learn what will be expected of
their students in kindergarten and can plan lessons accordingly and
kindergarten teachers can learn more about experiences of their
future students and what their needs will be.

A great milestone

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District held a collaboration
meeting between preschool and kindergarten teachers in March.
Ernst, the Avaxat kindergarten teacher, was one of about 20
teachers who attended.

Ernst said she was surprised to hear how much local preschool
teachers are teaching their young charges. In turn, Temecula
Headstart teacher Darlene Carpenter said it was good to hear she's
teaching children what they need to know for their first year of
school.

Two years ago, the Murrieta district started focusing on the
transition into kindergarten and began the meetings, open to both
public and private preschool teachers. Last year, the district
invited families to kindergarten open houses for the first time.
Two hundred families attended, said Wall, the curriculum
coordinator. Open houses will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
and Thursday, at E. Hale Curran and Buchanan elementaries,
respectively.

Parents will learn that their children should enter kindergarten
knowing a variety of skills, including how to use scissors, count
to 10, be familiar with upper- and lower-case letters, say nursery
rhymes and know four basic shapes.

"Going from preschool to kindergarten is one of the greatest
milestones in a child's life and a parent's life," said Wall, who
helps organize the preschool transition program.

The Temecula Valley, Menifee and Lake Elsinore school districts
also provide programs focusing on the transition.

Lori Furgerson knows how important the transition to
kindergarten is for a child. The first-grade teacher at Murrieta
Elementary started a business with a former colleague two years
ago, teaching parents, teachers and directors of preschools what
5-year-olds need to know to be ready for school.

"The things they learn in kindergarten and first grade are so
important as they get older," Furgerson said. "It's their
foundation of reading and vocabulary."

When Furgerson was teaching third grade at an underperforming
school in Burbank, she and her colleagues discovered that students
struggling to read were having trouble blending sounds to form
words, something they should have mastered in kindergarten and
first grade.

"The more I worked in it, the more I became interested in what
parents can do to help the transition" from preschool to
kindergarten, she said.

Through her business, Partners in the Advancement of Literacy
Skills, Furgerson realized that attending preschool didn't mean a
child would be ready for the next level. Some preschool directors
don't believe in teaching the ABCs for fear of being too academic,
she said.

Furgerson helps parents prepare their children for kindergarten,
giving them ideas for games, nursery rhymes and activities they can
do at home or in the car without spending money. She is holding a
workshop May 20 in Murrieta.

"Parents can be a very powerful tool in helping their kids," she
said.